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Message  of  the 
Conf  Pam  #448 


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House  of  Representatives,  February  22ud,  1865. — Referred  to 
Committee  on  Military  Affairs. 

[By  The  Chair.] 


MESSAGE  OF  THE  PRESIDENT. 

Richmond,  Va.,  Feb.  20,  1865. 

To  the  House  of  Bepresfntatives  : 

In  response  to  your  resolution  of  the  6th  instant,  I  herewith 
transmit  a  communication  from  the  Secretary  of  War,  which  con- 
veys all  the  information  in  my  possession  relative  to  the  non-de- 
struction of  the  cotton  in  the  city  ot  Savannah,  before  its  evacuation 
by  our  military  forces. 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


COMMUNICATION  FROM  SECRETARY  OF  WAR. 

Confederate  States  op  America,         ^ 

War  Department,  ^ 

Richmond,  Va.,  Feb.  18th,  1865.  ) 

To  the  President  of  the  Confederate  States  : 

Sir  : — I  have  received  the  following  resolution  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  6th  instant,  referred  by  your  Excellency 
to  this  Department : 

"  ResoLvtid,  That  if  not  incompatible  with  the  public  interest, 
tiie  President  be  respectfully  requested  to  inform  this  House  how  it 
happened  that  the  large  amount  of  cotton  was  captured  by  the 
enemy  at  Savannah,  in  the  face  of  the  law  of  the  Confederate  States, 
passed  as  early  as  the  17th  March,  1862,  directing  the  military  au- 
thorities to  destroy  cotton,  or  other  property  of  any  kind  whatever, 
which  may  aid  the  enemy  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  when  ne- 
cessary, to  prevent  the  same,  or  any  part  thereof,  from  falling  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy," 

In  response,  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith  a  copy  of  a 
telegram  received  by  the  Adjutant  C:}-eneral   from  Lieut.  G3nl.  Har- 


2 

dee,  in  reply  to  a  call  made  upon  him  for  report  why  the  cotton  in 
Savannah  was  not  destroyed  before  the  evacuation  of  the  city.    This 
dispatch  contains  all  the  information  on  the  subject  in   the  posses- 
sion of  tiiis  Department. 
Very  respectfully, 

Your  obdt.  servt., 

JOHN  C.  BRECKENRIDGE, 

Secretary  of  War. 


Received  at  Richmond,  Virginia,  Feb'y  7th,  1865  : 

By  Telegraph  from  Charleston,  Feb'y  6th,  1865. 

Gen.  S.  Cooper,  A.  &  I.  General: 

Your  dispatch  of  the  5th,  inquiring  why  the  cotton  in  Savannah 
was  not  destroyed  before  evacuation  of  the  city,  is  received  The 
cotton  was  distributed  throughout  the  city  in  cellars,  garrets,  and 
warehouses,  where  it  could  not  have  been  burned  without  destroy- 
ing the  city.  It  had  not  been  sent  off  by  railroad  previous  to  the 
cutting  of  road,  because  railroad  transportation  was  monopolized 
for  removal  of  Ordnance,  Commissary,  and  other  important  Gov- 
ernment stores.  From  the  cutting  of  the  roads  to  eva  uaiion  of  the 
city — twelve  days — every  man  was  required  to  wotk  on  the  lines, 
and  every  wagon,  dray,  and  cart  that  could  be  impressed,  was  need- 
ed to  keep  the  troops  in  a  line  (twelve  miles  long)  supplied  with 
Ordnance  and  Commissary  stores.  Not  a  man  nor  a  woman  could 
have  been  spared  to  collect  the  cotton  in  a  place  where  it  could  have 
been  burned. 

(Signed,)  W.  J.  HARDEE, 

Lt.  General. 

Official  copy. 

H.  L.  Clay,  A.  A.  Gen. 

A.  &  I.  G.  0.,  Feb'y  14,  1865. 


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